Thursday, August 27, 2015

McLean, Va. – American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and a coalition of more than 60 food groups urged the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to develop a fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget that adequately funds U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food safety programs without saddling consumers and food makers with burdensome new taxes or fees.

“Food safety is the highest priority for America’s food and beverage makers,” said AFFI President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz. “As the administration begins to craft the fiscal year 2017 budget, we stand ready to work with federal agencies and Congress to ensure sufficient federal resources are allocated to FDA’s critical food safety activities without increasing costs for consumers and food makers.”

AFFI and its allies wrote Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan stressing that Congress has previously rejected efforts to impose new regulatory fees on food and beverage makers and distributors to fund FDA’s food safety programs.

The AFFI-led coalition cautioned that imposing any new food taxes will yield crippling economic effects. The coalition wrote, “As consumers continue to cope with a period of prolonged economic recovery and food makers and retailers struggle with fluctuating commodity prices, the creation of new food taxes or regulatory fees would mean higher costs for food makers and lead to higher retail food prices for the most vulnerable consumers.”